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“I’m sorry,” Bitty mumbled. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”
Mary shook her head and reached out with a soothing touch. “No, no. You don’t have to apologize. I’m just concerned because you fainted in the cold.”
“I went outside…” L.W. must have called for help after she’d collapsed. “… to see a friend. And I just got dizzy.”
“Doc Jane is going to come check you out, okay?”
“Of course.” Because, hey, all the tests were going to come back fine. The fainting thing hadn’t been physical. More like a soul seizure. “I’m all right. I just forgot to eat at First Meal.”
Mary frowned. “You’ve been doing that a lot lately.”
“I have?” When her mom nodded, Bitty rubbed her eyes. “You know, I think you’re right.”
“And you’ve complained about headaches over the last month.”
“I did?”
“Mm-hmm.” Mary stroked Bitty’s arm again. “Honey, I think it might be coming.”
Bitty lifted her brows. “What might be coming? If you’re talking about spring, it’s a long way off—”
“Your needing.”
Cue the record squealing. Cars screeching to a halt. A crashing sound. “My nee—no,no.” She shoved herself up into a sitting position. “It’s waaay too early. I just had it a couple of years ago—”
“It’ll be ten years in February.”
A cold pall came over Bitty, like she was back out on the side lawn without a coat. “It… can’t be.”
“I’m afraid so. I’ve wanted to broach the subject, but I wasn’t sure how.”
Bitty closed her eyes and let her head fall back until her nape pinched like it was in a vise. Jesus… Christ. Not again.
A female vampire’s fertile time was a torture. The cravings to be serviced by a male were so overpowering and debilitating that unless you were prepared to be with one for a good twenty-four hours straight—and run the risk of pregnancy and the birthing bed’s high death rates—your only option was to get sedated and stay secluded until the whole two or three nights passed and your hormones reregulated.
“It seems like it just happened.” Bitty stared at the area rug under the coffee table without seeing much of the braid of muted colors. “Then again, it always feels that way.”
“I’ll be there for you. So will Doc Jane.”
“Thank you, Mom.”
As Bitty looked up with worry, Mary wrapped her in a hug, and after the female pulled back, she smiled a little.
“So… there’s someone waiting outside for you. He wants to make sure you’re okay, and I have a feeling he’s not going to be satisfied until he sets his own eyes on you.”
“Oh.” Bitty ran her hands over her hair. “Really?”
“Really. But I can also tell him to come back after Doc Jane assesses you. She’s finishing up a consult at Havers’s and then she’ll be here.”
“I’m fine. Honest.”
And she really didn’t want to have the doctor tell her what she and her mom had just guessed. That was not an argument she was going to win, though.
Mary got up from the edge of the couch and stared down with her hands at her hips, just the way she’d done when Bitty was younger and she’d been sick.
“You sure you feel well enough to go out there?” came the demand.
Taking a deep breath, Bitty felt a flutter in her chest as she nodded—maybe a little too enthusiastically. With a shift of her legs, she planted her feet on the carpet, and was slow in getting up just in case her balance was bad. When she reached her full height, she gave it a moment—
